Like her native state, Miss Florida Myrrhanda Jones might not have been the best all-around candidate at the Miss America pageant this weekend, but she sure as hell provided the best entertainment.
Jones, a senior at the University of Florida, somehow tore her ACL while practicing her baton-twirling performance. But then, in a performance that made the Miami Dolphins seem like pansies, she donned a bedazzled knee brace and kept on strutting her stuff Sunday. She also concisely summed up her state's unofficial "WTF Florida" motto.
"Once most famous for the fountain of youth, now we're known as America's weirdest state," she said. "I am Miss Florida, Myrrhanda Jones."
If Jones fulfilled her share of Florida tropes, the rest of the program also delivered its fair share of countrywide clichés.
First, there was the event's obligatory dedication to a national tragedy. This time it was Hurricane Sandy, which devastated host Atlantic City last October.
Miss California caught a lot of flack for saying something rather reasonable about American intervention in Syria. Meanwhile, Miss Kansas -- an Army veteran named Theresa Vail -- made Miss America history by showing off her tattoo.
And New York had to go and win it, of course.
But Miss Florida and her blinged-out knee brace stole the show.
"Football players normally do this in a game and they're out for the rest of the season; they don't come back," Jones told ABC News after tearing her ACL and partially severing her MCL during rehearsal Thursday. "It's not exactly like that here. I'm coming back.
"I'm probably one of the most competitive people here, and I'm ready to do it. I'm really ready to do this. I'm excited. I think it's gonna be great," she said. "I'm finishing this thing."
And she did.
Follow Michael E. Miller on Twitter
Follow Miami New Times on Facebook and Twitter @MiamiNewTimes.
